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Nobel Conference Presenter on MPR Monday

Dr. Sylvester James Gates Jr., one of eight presenters at the upcoming 49th annual Nobel Conference, will appear on Minnesota Public Radio’s show The Daily Circuit with host Kerri Miller during the 10 a.m. hour Monday, Sept. 30.

Gates is a University System of Maryland Regents Professor, the John S. Toll Professor of Physics, and director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland, College Park. Professor Gates currently serves on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and on the Maryland State Board of Education. He earned two B.S. degrees in mathematics and science and a Ph.D., all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His Ph.D. dissertation was the first at MIT to deal with supersymmetry and was followed by postgraduate work at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology.

Earlier this year, Professor Gates became the first member physicist of the African Diaspora in the 150-year history of the National Academy of Sciences and was named a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the highest recognition given by the U.S. to scientists, “for his contribution to the mathematics of supersymmetry in particle, field, and string theories and his extraordinary efforts to engage the public on the beauty and wonder of fundamental physics.”

Gates will be delivering the closing lecture of this year’s Nobel Conference. His 7:30 p.m. talk on Wednesday, Oct 2 is titled “The Audience of Nature” and is part of The Nobel Conference Banquet. For more information about the Nobel Conference, go online to gustavus.edu/nobel. To listen live to Gates’ Monday interview with MPR, go online to mpr.org.